Abstract:The automated mineralogy methods and techniques were one of the greatest achievements in process mineralogy. This paper presents the functional principle and applications used in the recently BGRIMM process mineralogy analyzer (BPMA) with version 1.0 BPMA software, which is the first automated mineralogy analyzing system in China, developed independently by the BGRIMM Technology Group (China). The BPMA is based on scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometers (EDS), can be used to investigate the quantitative process mineralogical data such as mineral composition, mineral content, mineral liberation and interlocked relationship, particle (and grain) size, dissemination characteristics, occurrence state of elements, etc., quickly, accurately and automatically. This system was initially designed mainly for use in mineral processing to determine particle mineral liberation from representative samples of plant products (i.e. feeds, middlings, concentrates and tailings), and it was indeed useful for real-time monitoring of process mineralogical parameters in the processing plant which helped for process design and plant optimization. In addition, the system could also be used for the search for strategic critical metal minerals (e.g., REEs, Au, Ag, PGEs, etc.), with the characteristics of “thin”, “companion” and “fine”, and the study of occurrence state of these metal resources. Besides, the analysis of ores and associated gangue in drill cores and coarse-crushed samples from exploration projects and mines, using this automated mineralogy system, could helped to assess the potential of a deposit.